“Traditionally, we are taught to judge the success of a society by how it deals with the least able, most vulnerable members of that society. [But] shouldn’t we judge a society by how they treat the most successful?” Marc Rowan, 2012

The New York Times reports:

The Trump administration shook higher education this week when it promised benefits to universities that signed a “compact” closely aligned with conservative priorities.

But much of the compact’s construction happened outside of the West Wing.

Many of the ideas included in the proposal — and, in some instances, their exact wording — came from a document circulated last winter at the behest of Marc Rowan, the billionaire financier. Mr. Rowan has been keenly interested in higher education and, as the University of Pennsylvania was mired in acrimony over antisemitism and pro-Palestinian activism in 2023, he wielded his wealth and influence to help oust his alma mater’s president.

The proposal that the government released this week called for universities to limit international students, protect conservative speech, generally require standardized testing for admissions and to adopt policies recognizing “that academic freedom is not absolute,” among other conditions. An accompanying cover letter dangled “substantial and meaningful federal grants” for schools that signed up, though those universities could also have their funding jeopardized if the Justice Department decided they had violated the agreement.

The letter sought feedback from nine handpicked universities, even as it described the proposal as “largely in its final form.”

Mr. Rowan and others, including some people in academia, had been molding the template for months, long before the White House adopted the ideas. Although Mr. Rowan was not the lone author of the document that the Trump administration embraced as a model, he was regarded as a central force behind its development. [Continue reading…]